The Story

We are the Hamrick Family. We are blessed beyond belief with four sons and have always hoped for a little girl but the cost of adopting through an agency has kept us from pursuing that route. In August 2015 we felt the desire strongly to look into adoption again and still found it too expensive.

In August, I wrote the following note to a few friends who prayed with us when we began looking at this in earnest:

"We want a daughter, but we know we aren't supposed to pursue the normal methods. We are, however, open to someone approaching us and asking us to adopt their baby girl. We are pretty much 99.9999% sure this isn't going to happen, as we know there are so few instances where it does, and we're okay with that. I'm at peace with this, and for the first time in my life, I am content either way. We do know of several families where this has happened, but we don't expect it or count on it. We are expecting that we will never have a daughter to raise, but if God sends one our way, we'll be ecstatic.

Your prayers are coveted as we go forward with the "waiting" for something we aren't even expecting."

On my birthday in early November, we received word of a lady looking for a family for her unborn baby. Over the next week, while we were on a family retreat, our family prayed fervently and God answered. Exactly one week after the initial word came to us we committed to the mother to pursue adopting her baby girl.

She is precious and I am so thankful she is willing to allow us the honor of raising this sweet child that is due at the end of January. (You read that right. On the day we found out about this little girl we only had 10 weeks until she was due! This process is going to move VERY QUICKLY.)

Funds are required immediately. We have to get our home study started Monday. What usually takes 3-5 months we have to complete in 10 weeks. Regarding our asking for money, it's hard. We don't like to ask, but we also know that it is part of our being humble before the Lord and humble before you that we place this opportunity out there. Matt and I know that we are on the right path at the right time. We are going to be thankful for anything that we receive and will be using it 100% for the costs of adoption and the travel to Virginia to welcome our little girl into the world. We will have to stay in Virginia about two weeks until the government has completely granted us custody. If you have any questions regarding this piece of our story, feel free to email me. I don't want to bore everyone with the details.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to read our story, for anything you can offer, even if it's simply your prayers as we face a very big and exciting life change in January.

Fundraiser Updates

Posted on February 12, 2016

Posted on February 12, 2016

So much has gone on and I've devoted so little time to my computer that I haven't updated here, my blog, or even Facebook as much or as often as I like to. Time flies when you're having fun... or when you have a newborn! (And four other kids and are living on-the-go.)

I'll go back and add more information later, but for now, I just wanted to write a note as I sit here on my last night on the east coast... the last night of this part of the adventure.

My family is sleeping soundly spread all over my parents' house. My boys in the bonus room, Matt in the guest room, and Anna in my parents' room in the little rocker-sleeper our birth mother gave to us. Since my dad has to work so early I decided to put Anna in their room after her 0400 feeding so that when he wakes up he can get some good snuggles!

I, on the other hand, am wired! My dear friend Kari met her son a few hours ago and I'm beyond excited for them. They're in China and are just now feeding him his dinner for the first time. I could cry with mixed emotions: happy they're finally with him, sad their other four kids are missing them, jealous that I can't be there to share these moments they way they were with us as we met our little one. Anyway, I woke up to feed Anna and read some updates from them, and then got too worked up to sleep.

I decided I'd get up and at least briefly update here.

Tomorrow morning our not-so-little family will load up the mini-van and head back toward Texas. My heart breaks at the thought of missing so many people here in North Carolina/East Coast There are at least 50 people I could count that, given better circumstances, I'd want to introduce Anna to. But due to the timing of our release from VA, we simply don't have time.

I'm really torn about leaving but since we left home over a month ago, I'm really excited to be heading back! We have been blessed beyond measure by the hospitality of family and friends and by the generosity of those who have donated toward our adventure. I am still amazed that just over three months ago we didn't even know about Anna and now, we've done our home studies, driven across the country, made it to the hospital to meet her, survived the Snowpocalypse, been to court, passed the revocation period, and eventually were released from Virginia.

I'm taking this little one home to a house full of baby stuff that I was not 100% sure we'd need. There were so many things that could go wrong and my heart was slightly guarded. Matt's even more than mine. But here we are. Parents of the most beautiful baby girl on the planet and we most definitely do need the baby items we've been collecting since November 4th. I'm excited to get her home and start taking pictures of her "firsts" at home.

Your prayers are coveted as we start our drive in the morning. Forgiveness, please, from those who were so close to us physically and yet we weren't able to see. And patience as I get back to Texas and into a good routine so that I can write out our story and share it in detail.

I can't begin to tell you just how much I treasure each message, text, note on Facebook, letter, card, gift. We have the best community around us and we do not want you to think for a minute you are not treasured.

Posted on February 2, 2016

Posted on February 2, 2016

Goal officially reached!

I know I am behind in sharing with you the amazing adventures of the past few weeks, and I'll try to do that tomorrow, but for now, I just wanted to share that we were given a gift tonight in our Virginia house, by the family who connected us to our daughter! It was the final $118 needed to reach our goal.

I am so glad that we got to spend the entire day with the Holsinger family!~Jennifer

Posted on January 22, 2016

Posted on January 22, 2016

High blood pressure at 40 weeks is nothing to joke about so they are inducing the mama. She's starting Pitocin and I'm sitting in the waiting room, waiting for progress. :)

Each adoption is different, of course, but many have said that it's best for all if the adoptive mother is not in the delivery room. This is along the lines of what our birth mother wanted from the start, so I am where I envisioned myself being for this part of our adventure.

Of course, Anna would make her arrival during the "blizzard of 2016" - she is going to love snow like the rest of her family!

Matt has the boys at a nearby mall and they're going to catch a movie. Once it's over, if things are moving very slowly, I'll have them bring dinner here before heading home for the night.

My next post on here will likely be "the announcement!"

Thank you for checking in and for your support. I still can't believe we are at 98% of the way to our initial goal. Gifts are still coming in and they are still greatly appreciated and being applied to this specific situation.